OLD AGE PENSIONS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 167, 16 July 1908, Page 6

OLD AGE PENSIONS.

AND THE WORKHOUSE. With the object of discovering what effect Mr Asquith!s pension scheme will have on the workhouses of the country—whether it will make it possible for any appreciable number of inmates of seventy years of age and upwards to leave the "house," and thus relieve the local rates, the Daily Mail made an offer of a weekly pension of 5s until January next to one eligible inalo inmate of Marylebone Workhouse. The 500 inmates eligible by ag« shrank - considerably on the first consideration, as a large proportion would not be capable of managing their own affairs if allowed outside the house, and certainly had passed the period when they could add the smallest amount to the weekly 5s pension. Of the" remainder, all but fifteen found it impossible on considoration to leave the house and live on 5s a week. From these fifteen there were only two cases for final consideration. ; One remarkable fact in this investigation stands out clearly: that in one of the largest workhouses in London few inmates will be able to take , advantage of Mr As-. quith's scheme and thus relieve the local ratesi. The •day-after the Budget proposals Were announced, Thomas Bundock, an aged pauper in Willisden (London) Workhouse sent the following effusion to* the master of the institution:— Five bob a week—outdoor relief— 'Tis "infra dig" to mention; So take it through the G.P.0., And call it old age pension.